The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-13
QUOTATIONS.
Some Writers Who Make Use of
Other Authors Sayings.

''To use quotations sparingly" is a
conspicuous piece of advice given to
young authors who desire to cultivate a
good style, They are told it Is bad
form'-that is the phrase nowadays to
intersperse their sentences with a>multi'
tude of the expressions of other men.
The habit is said to indicate poverty of
ideas and want of power over compo-
sition. Indeed, some authorities 60 SO
far as to declare that only on the rarest
occasions is a quotation permissible.
George Eliot, to wit, says in Daniel
Deronda," although she is referring
more directly to ''nicety" in converse
ton than in writing, Much quotation
of any sort, even in English, is bad. 1t
tends 10 check ordinary remark" One
couldn't carry On life comforts ably with
out little blindness to the fact that
everything has been said better than we
can put it ourselves. On the ground,
then, that it is wise and comfortable to
be little blind, we humbly submit that
the practice of quoting is not without its
advantages, giving, as it sometimes
does, strength to an utterance and back
ing 1t up by some noble thought nobly
expressed and which fits perfectly the
case in point. This opinion is Endorsed
by many a wise thinker, and, to note
one only, DR.. Wendell Holmes says OF
Emerson: Quota ion and originality
furnish the key to Emerson s workshop.
He believed in quotation, and borrowed
from everybody and every book-not i'll
any stealthy or shamed-faced way. but
proudly, royalty, as king borrows from
one of his attendants the coin that bears
his own image and superscription." On
the other hand, there can be no doubt
that to find a superabundance OF poetic
lines and verses, = texts, maXims,
epigrams, aphorisms, notices and the
like, lugged neck and shoulders into
every sentence, Is, to say the least, very
tiresome to a reader, especially when 1t
is obvious that the writer has gone out
of his way in order to give some poor
quotation. In conversation too per-
petual tendency to quote is worse still,
for, as the author of Adam Bede" de-
clares above, sit tends to check ordiD-
cry remark" The man whose talk IS
stuffed with words not his own generally
obtains the privilege OF having the talk
all to himself. Simple everyday people
are so appalled, by what they suppose
to be his extensive reading and learning
Ludt LDey are afraid 10 open their ups
lest they display their own ignorance
before one so accomplished and far see
ing. We once heard of a gentleman
whose memory was so retentiVe, and his
knowledge of Shakespeare so intimate.
that ne would undertake not only to
answer any question in the words of the
poet, but would carry on conversation
for quarter of an hour on any subject
by quotations from the bard. II this
story be true he must indeed have been
rather terror to his friends; and even
Mr.. Samuel Brandram himself might
tremble al the thought OF such rival
in memory and knowledge of the Shaks-
pearean text. Rover, in O'Keefe's old
fashioned comedy. wild Oats, deIuges
the dialogue with quotations; but,
then, in his character of strolJing
player, it is to be expected that they
might naturally come trippingly off the
tongue; but his ready facility is COM
pletely thrown into the shade by that of
our Shakspearean scholar. London
Graphic,